Fasting 15 hours a day has a major impact on preventing obesity, according to a study done on rats. Clinical studies on adolescents who struggle with obesity are needed to see whether this finding also applies to human beings. Illustration photo: Thinkstoc

Eating only during active hours reduces risk of obesity

A new study of rats suggests that it’s not just what you eat, but when you eat it that affects weight loss or gain.

The rats that could eat whenever they wanted gained a lot of weight. Illustration photo: Thinkstock

FASTING: Researchers at NTNU recently published an article about obesity and eating patterns, based on experiments done on rats.

Fifty rats were part of the study and were divided into two groups. One group had access to a high-fat diet throughout the day, while the second group only had access to the same high-fat diet nine hours a day, for five days a week. On the other two days of the week, the restricted group could also eat as much as and whenever they wanted.

For people, this regimen “would mean eating breakfast, lunch and an early dinner, but nothing in the evening,” says PhD candidate Magnus Kringstad Olsen. “Or skip breakfast, and eat lunch, dinner and some evening fare. On weekends you could eat whenever and whatever you want,” he adds.

Eat during active hours

Olsen has been part of a research group for experimental surgery in NTNU’s Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, under the leadership of Professor Duan Chen.

Many people who are overweight eat at night. We have an internal clock that is set differently for daytime and night-time. The body handles food better during the day than at night. Illustration photo: Thinkstock

This time restriction allows you to eat during the hours when your body is active and not at night, when most of us are passive. According to Olsen, what time of day we eat makes a big difference.

“We have an internal clock that is set differently for daytime and nighttime. The body handles food better during the day than at night. Many people who are overweight eat at night,” he says.

Slowed down development of obesity

The results from their study show that fasting for about 15 hours a day has a major influence on preventing obesity.

“We found that rats, particularly young rats that have had high-fat diet but were on the fasting regimen gained weight and developed obesity much more slowly than the rats that ate a high-fat diet whenever they wanted to all week long. The rats that were allowed to eat whenever they wanted gained a lot of weight. People who don’t eat a diet that is as rich in fat as the high-fat diet that the rats ate will probably see an even greater effect,” says Olsen.

The study is in line with a previous experiment in the United States, where researchers looked at the effect of fasting on adult mice that were already overweight.

Tackling overweight among children

In this latest study, NTNU researchers wanted to investigate how a time restriction like this might prevent obesity, especially among children and adolescents.

One in four individuals is overweight

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than one in four people are overweight, and more than 50 million children are extremely overweight. New dietary guidelines are needed to curb this trend.

According to a report from the World Health Organization, 13 per cent of the world’s population are overweight, and that number is on track to double over the next 35 years.

Many people who suffer from obesity are children. The EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014-2020 outlines measures to prevent overweight among children and adolescents. This has led researchers to seek new dietary guidelines that can prevent obesity without causing malnutrition. Children depend on adequate nourishment to develop normally.

Diet to be tested on youth

The total caloric intake was not reduced in the time-restricted feeding study on rats, which means the diet may be appropriate for young people.

“We’re limited in what we can do for children and adolescents when it comes to obesity. Individuals have to be 18 years old to have an operation, and restricting calories isn’t good for growing children,” says Olsen.

The next step will be to test whether the fasting diet works in practice.

“We would like to start a clinical study on teens under 18 who are already struggling with obesity,” he says.

Whether this kind of diet is effective for weight loss, Olsen can’t yet say. “That remains to be seen,” he says.

Increased physical activity, not weight loss, gives individuals with coronary heart disease a longer lease on life, according to a new study conducted at NTNU.

MORE NORWEGIAN SCITECH NEWS

LOADING CONTENT

Privacy Policy

The Privacy Statement is about how this website collects and uses visitor information. The statement contains information that you are entitled to when collecting information from our website, and general information about how we treat personal data.The legal owner of the website is the processing officer for the processing of personal data. It is voluntary for those who visit the web sites to provide personal information regarding services such as receiving newsletters and using the sharing and tip services. The treatment basis is the consent of the individual, unless otherwise specified.

1. Web analytics and cookies (cookies)

As an important part of the effort to create a user-friendly website, we look at the user pattern of those who visit the site. To analyze the information, we use the Google Analytics analysis tool.Google Analytics uses cookies (small text files that the site stores on the user's computer), which registers the users' IP address and provides information about the individual user's online movements. Examples of what the statistics give us answers to are; how many people visit different pages, how long the visit lasts, what websites users come from and what browsers are used. None of the cookies allow us to link information about your use of the site to you as an individual.The information collected by Google Analytics is stored on Google servers in the U.S.. The information received is subject to the Google Privacy Policy.An IP address is defined as a personal information because it can be traced back to a particular hardware and thus to an individual. We use Google Analytics's tracking code to anonymize the IP address before the information is stored and processed by Google. Thus, the stored IP address can not be used to identify the individual user.

2. Search

If the webpage has search function, it stores information about what keywords users use in Google Analytics. The purpose of the storage is to improve our information service. The search usage pattern is stored in aggregate form. Only the keyword is saved and they can not be linked to other information about the users, such as the IP addresses.

3. Share / Tips service

The "Share with others" feature can be used to forward links to the site by email, or to share the content of social networking. Tips for tips are not logged with us, but only used to add the tips to the community. However, we can not guarantee that the online community does not log this information. All such services should therefore be used wisely. If you use the email feature, we only use the provided email addresses to resend the message without any form of storage.

4. Newsletter

The website can send out newsletters by email if you have registered to receive this. In order for us to be able to send e-mail, you must register an e-mail address. Mailchimp is the data processor for the newsletter. The e-mail address is stored in a separate database, not shared with others and deleted when you unsubscribe. The e-mail address will also be deleted if we receive feedback that it is not active.

5. Registration, form

The website may have a form for registration, contact form or other form. These forms are available to the public to perform the tasks they are supposed to do.Registration form is for visitors to sign up or register.Contact form is for visitors to easily send a message to the website's contact person.We ask for the name of the sender and contact information for this. Personal information we receive is not used for purposes other than responding to the inquiry.The form is sent as email via Mailgun as a third party solution. The entire submission will be stored at Mailgun for 24 hours. Between 24 hours and 30 days, only mailheader is stored before the submission is deleted after 30 days. The reason for this storage is to confirm whether emails are sent from the website and forwarded to the correct recipient.Once the email is received by the recipient, it is up to the recipient to determine the data processing needs of the email.

6. Page and service functionality

Cookies are used in the operation and presentation of data from websites. Such cookies may contain language code information for languages ​​selected by the user. There may be cookies with information supporting the load balancing of the system, ensuring all users the best possible experience. For services that require login or search, cookies can be used to ensure that the service presents data to the right recipient.